[lkrubner]

I'm just guessing but couldn't "dumb as hell" be a reference to this:

"Love that smart people are starting to tackle health problems"

Smart people have been working on health problems for several centuries. Severutus worked out the circulatory system in the 1500s, Lister and Pasteur contributed to the germ theory of illness in the 1800s. Sir Alexander Fleming developed the basic idea of penicillin in the 1920s. Smart people have been working on health issues for a very long time.

[randallsquared]

I had the same startled reaction to ariels post that joebananas apparently did. The idea that smart people are just now starting to look at health is just... astonishing. Fortunately, joebananas took the karma hit to show us all that HN doesn't think doctors or scientists are "smart people". :/

[itg]

I think he means it in a different way. Nobody is saying that the work of medical researchers and doctors is unimportant or they aren't smart. However figuring out new ways to connect the population and make them more aware of their health is exciting and with the low barriers to entry with all the technology we have now, it will allow many more people to participate in this field.

[bad_user]

Don't forget the discovery of morphine by Friedrich Sertürner in 1804 :-)